Contents

Spelvin was born in Houston, Texas at 2:24 pm[6] on March 1, 1936 as Shelley Bob Graham.[7] Her father was a geophysicist, and the family moved frequently.[6] She often took dancing lessons during childhood.[6] She graduated High School in 1954.[6]

"At first, I wanted to be an opera singer but my voice wasn't good enough. My second choice was ballerina. After that, it was a series of compromises.""
- Georgina Spelvin[8]

She began her professional career as dancer and later as a chorus girl[9][10] in Pajama Game, and was featured in the Broadway productions of Cabaret,[4]Guys and Dolls, and Sweet Charity,.[11][12] Spelvin began using as the spelling of her name, Chele Graham, but kept the pronunciation the same as Shelley Graham.[2][3][4] When performance offers dwindled, she worked in theater production as a choreographer, director, and lighting technician in a number of musicals,[13] which led to underground film scene.

"I took the role very seriously. I was doing Hedda Gabler here! The fact that there was hard-core sex involved was incidental as far as I was concerned. I was totally deluded. I had made myself believe that I was an actress. I was showing true life as it really was, including actual sex as it really happened, instead of the phony stuff that you got from Hollywood. That was my raison d'etre throughout the whole thing. It was okay; I was okay; I wasn't a slut."
(on Devil in Miss Jones)
- Georgina Spelvin[14]

"The Devil in Miss Jones. This was the "birth" of Georgina Spelvin in 1974. From there it was, again, all downhill. This descent spiraled into the pits of sleaze-bag strip joints and alcoholism. Sobriety came November 11, 1981."
- Georgina Spelvin[6]

In 1974, while living in Maine, she was charged with transporting obscene materials across state lines for her film Devil in Miss Jones in Tennessee.[2] The charges were eventually dropped in 1977.[3]

In 2006, she was interviewed for the documentary filmDevil In Miss Spelvin for Devil in Miss Jones, The Definitive Collector's Edition.[21]

In 2009, she appeared as herself in the video for Massive Attack's song "Paradise Circus".[22]

In 2011, Spelvin was a guest on an episode (season 1, episode 5) of the Showtime series Dave's Old Porn, in which she viewed and discussed clips from a number of her films (including The Devil in Miss Jones) with host Dave Attell and guest Adam Carolla.

In May 2008, she published her autobiography, The Devil Made Me Do It,[23] and appeared on camera in a short web clip announcing its release on the internet. A self-published work, the book is available through her official website, Georgiespelvin.com.[24]